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Understand

This rarely visited province was established by Stalin as an attempt to boost the population of the Soviet Far East as well as to appease Zionist movements within the USSR (which were contradictory to Soviet dogma). The Oblast's "Jewish" status has led to some odd Soviet-Jewish art, such as the menorah monument in the city center, but did not lead to mass Jewish immigration - Jews constitute only about 2% of this region's population. Some, however, did heed the call of a Siberian Zion, including the Californian family of Mary Leder, author of the fascinating memoirs "My Life in Stalinist Russia."